The Colombian Peace Agreement (EN)

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Colombian police walk through a coca field Credit: InsightCrime.org Source: http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/colombia-again-world-top-cocaine-producer active role in designing, implementing and monitoring the success of the program. This agreement granted special treatment to the issue of illicit crops by promoting their voluntary replacement and an agricultural transformation of the affected areas. It would have prioritized the legal use of drugs under public health policies, and intensified the fight against drug trafficking: a new strategy was to be established with the aim of dismantling and prosecuting drug-trafficking networks; efforts against money laundering in all sectors of the economy were to be strengthened and new measures to enhance the fight against corruption to be implemented. 74 Shortly after president Santos’s inauguration for a second term, the government and FARC negotiators announced the establishment of two new entities. A Historical Commission on the Conflict and Its Victims, composed of experts chosen by the government and the FARC, was assembled to compile a “consensus report” on the origins of the conflict and its effects on the civilian population. In addition, a subcommittee to end the conflict was convened, composed of active duty and retired Colombian military officers and prominent FARC members. 75 Another innovation was the inclusion of victims’ perspectives at the negotiating table. “From August through December 2014, the parties have invited five delegations of victims to participate directly in the discussions, as the negotiators wrestled with the fourth topic of reparations and justice for victims. The challenge of representing more than 6.5 million victims was addressed by selecting different types of victims, from distinct regional backgrounds, representing gender and ethnic diversity”. 76 Peace talks were suspended in November 2014 following the capture of an army general by the FARC. With the help of mediators the general was released and in December the FARC declared a unilateral indefinite ceasefire, specifying that they would 18
maintain such measures as long as the Colombian security forces no longer took aggressive action against FARC troops. The government had resisted calls for a bilateral cessation of hostilities since the start of the talks, but during a surprise announcement in January 2015 president Santos stated he had given instructions to the negotiators to study the terms of a bilateral and definitive ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, 77 which was signed and implemented only on 23 June 2016, which has represented an enormous cornerstone in the negotiations. The agreement regarding the victims of the conflict, made public on 15 December 2015, sought to uphold – through the mechanisms that make up the Comprehensive System for Truth, Justice, Reparations and Non-Repetition – the rights of victims, ensure accountability and help facilitate coexistence, reconciliation and guarantees of non-repetition, as essential elements of the transition to peace. The Historical Commission was tasked with establishing the facts about the patterns of violence that have occurred, thus promoting social processes of reconciliation and providing a common understanding of the magnitude and causes of the violations. 78 Within this agreement was the idea that those who have participated directly or indirectly in the conflict causing harm must contribute to the comprehensive reparation for victims, through concrete contributions, acts of early recognition of responsibility, collective reparation, land restitution, and by collaborating in collective processes for the return of displaced persons and psychological rehabilitation. 79 Acts of acknowledgement of responsibility have already taken place. On November 6 th , 2015, 30 years after the deaths and disappearances during the retake of the Justice Palace by the armed forces, the state has admitted its responsibilities. On December 6 th , in Bojayá (Chocó department), the FARC carried out an act of acknowledgement of responsibility and requested forgiveness for the deaths and damages caused during fighting with the paramilitaries in 2002. 80 The most inspiring and promising of such acknowledgements, however, was made during the signing ceremony in Cartagena, when Timochenko recognized the FARC’s responsibilities in the conflict and asked, on behalf of the group, “for forgiveness to all the victims of the conflict for all the pain we may have caused in this war”. 81 A key aspect for reconciliation is the acknowledgement of institutional and individual responsibility for grave human rights violations. It is essential that institutions within the security sector and their members publicly admit their responsibilities and visibly participate in the truth, justice and reparation process. This is a fundamental step, and in Havana the government had committed to rationalize, reorient and strengthen state security institutions within the respect and guarantee of human rights and of their constitutional mandates. This effort was meant to be followed by an increased oversight by civil society and by other State institutions; the creation of a Ministry for public security; increased transparency in spending within the security sector to counter corruption; the modernization of police forces to enable them to fully comply with their mandate anywhere in the country; a reform of the police code; the application of international human rights standards in every aspect of the fight against 19
Page 1 and 2: THE COLOMBIAN PEACE AGREEMENT HOW W
Page 3 and 4: The aim of this research is to prov
Page 5 and 6: Introduction On August 24 th 2016,
Page 7 and 8: INFORME GENERAL Centro Nacional de
Page 9 and 10: profits, land control is a fundamen
Page 11 and 12: and vacations were based tarnished
Page 13 and 14: ended in April 2006: more than 31,0
Page 15 and 16: countability process. These organiz
Page 17: post-conflict democracy - set out t
Page 21 and 22: such provisions since its inception
Page 23 and 24: 23 June 2016: President Santos and
Page 25 and 26: Carolina, in the jungle of Putumayo
Page 27 and 28: solution that they deem too lenient
Page 29 and 30: Even if an agreement on the FARC de
Page 31 and 32: The real political winner is Uribe,
Page 33 and 34: which the ex-guerrillas were schedu
Page 35 and 36: over child combatants to family-wel
Page 37 and 38: Endnotes 1 World Bank estimates say
Page 39 and 40: 41 Jon Lee Anderson, “At last, a
Page 41 and 42: 82 Informe anual del Alto Comisiona
Page 43 and 44: 119 WOLA Statement: “Peace is Sti
Page 45 and 46: 147 Nicholas Casey, “Colombia’s

The Colombian Peace Agreement (EN)

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